Understanding One Another
by Calm-Waters
Summary: "Why do I fix everything I touch?" Being stuck in jail sucks. Yet you learn things. Things about people, that maybe you didn't really know. Or, that you did know, yet ignored it because you were playing stupid. Perhaps being stuck in jail was the only way Felix would have ever been able to understand Ralph. And Ralph could say he learned something new about Felix too.


_**I know, I know... I'm kind of already writing a story, but here I am... Doing another one shot ^^; Hahahaha. Yeah. Sorry ^^ Oh well. Keeps the mind flowing, you know?**_

_**Well, anyway, I'd have to give credit to sourcenter, whom gave me the idea for this story. Really, you are amazing! Props to you! Dedicated in your honour! ;D**_

_**Hopefully someone hasn't already done this! XS **_

_**Enjoy!**_

Understanding One Another

"_Why do I fix everything I touch?!_" Felix can't help but cry out in despair. Could this day have gotten any worse? He slumps on the cookie-like seat with a disheartened and distraught sound curling out from the back of his throat. It melds into defeated sobs of self-pity. _What am I going to do?_ Felix cries to himself, too depressed and emotionally tired to even begin thinking of another escape plan. Besides, it did look rather hopeless, _How can I get out-?!_

In the midst of his heightened dejection, a large _crash_ sounds before him, a familiar, low grunt greeting him as the rubble splashes around the seat. Felix looks up in surprise, shrinking back in shock at the figure spiraling into the room. _ "Felix!" _Ralph cries out, relieved to see his friend and colleague; safe, sound and non worse for the wear. _Felix, you're alright!_ However, Ralph had a bigger reason for being here besides setting him free. Ralph opens his mouth to begin talking- _Vanellope-_

_"Ralph!"_ Felix calls out, immediately hoping up and on the towering, lumbering man with great relief. Felix nearly starts crying, so happy he is to see _someone, anyone,_ "I'm _so glad_ to see you!" _I've been so lonely! _He calls out, hugging Ralph tightly. Suddenly, Felix remembers the _reason_ why he was in this prison in the first place.

It was because of Ralph. His euphoria back peddles.

"Wait, _**no** _I'm _**not**_." Felix retorts, breaking off contact with Ralph, standing before him indignantly. He crosses his arms before Ralph, looking sternly at the taller man, "What do you have to say for yourself?" He demands of Ralph. _Why, in the world, did you run off?_ As Ralph bends down to answer either the spoken, or unspoken question, Felix looks away. He holds up his hand, to Ralph's descending face, not wanting to hear any excuse Ralph could come up with. "**_Wait_**. I don't want to hear it," He tells Ralph firmly. Ralph's reply wouldn't wash away all the trials Felix had gone through. It wouldn't erase the ache settling in his soul. What was the point of listening when it was just words of one who was going 'Turbo'? "I'm not talking to you." Felix tells Ralph sternly, walking away and turning his back, crossing his arms. Felix feels slightly childish at the action, but none the less serious in his threat. He _didn't_ want to talk to Ralph, and Felix knew he had good reason to! After all, Ralph was the reason he had started this useless man hunt in the first place, with all those horrible trails Felix had gone through, which ultimately ending him locked in _jail. _Ralph _would be _the reason that lead to them all to losing their game (it was only a matter of time now). There was _nothing_ Ralph could say to salvage this situation. _Nothing. At. All. Ralph, you cannot be easily forgiven for this._

Ralph stares at the tense back of Felix He was surprised Felix was so mad, mad enough that it looked like forgiveness was impossible- but he couldn't blame Felix. Ralph couldn't really blame _anyone_. This was his mess- but he needed _help_ to clean it up. He couldn't do this by himself, "Ok, don't talk, that's fine! But you have to fix this go-kart for me. Pronto." Ralph dumps the kart onto the floor, hoping- perhaps- Felix would just... _do it. Fix the kart?_

It's a foolish hope, an absurd plea. One of many Ralph has had.

Felix turns around, rebuffed by the light, nearly demanding-like tone Ralph was giving him, "I don't have to do _boo!_" Felix says, his tone harsher than usual, as he glowers up at Ralph, "Excuse my potty mouth," Felix adds in curtly. However, the anger, the frustration and depression he had experienced today was coming out in one big rush. Felix couldn't contain it. He had to.. He had to _vent_, "I'm just so- so CROSS with you! Do you have any idea what you put me through?!" _Do you KNOW what I did to FIND you?! _Felix complains angrily, gesturing wildly as the emotions pool forth, in one mad, heated rush, "I've been higgledy-piggledy all over creation _looking_ for you! I almost **_drowned_ **in chocolate milk mix!" Felix declares, giving Ralph a harsh scowl- as if it was his fault. _Which it was. All my trials, everything that happened to me is because of you! If I hadn't had to find you- I never would have- I never would have met HER! _

As always, thoughts of the wonderful, high-definition Sergeant pop into his mind, "And_ then..."_ Felix walks off, lost in dreamy thought. Taking his hat in his hands, sighing and staring out the window, Felix continues to talk, "I met the most dynamite gal... She gives me the honey-glow something AWFUL." He smiles sadly, thinking about her. However, the ride towards the castle- the one that had brought about him ending up in jail, flashes to mind. He flips his hat back on his head, feeling the dejection and sourness all over again, **_'GET_ _OUT!' _**courses through him as a piercing echo, stabbing him in the heart, "But she _rebuffed_ my affections." Hands scrunching in anger, Felix comes to the climax of his ranting, one thought melding from the previous,_ "AND THEN I GOT THROWN IN JAIL!" _He declares angrily. Thrown in jail?! _Thrown in jail?!_ What had Felix done, besides look for an ungrateful, demanding colleague of his game, who may or may not be going 'Turbo'?! He was the _good guy_ for Pete's sake! What did he do to get thrown in jail for?! _And all of it, _Felix storms angrily, silently yelling at the elder man, _is your fault Ralph!_

Ralph was surprised by the anger vibrating around Felix, the heated accusation in his words. Felix had always been gentle, kind and content. That Felix could ultimately _blow up _like this was something new, something strange. This was- well, actually, this was rather amusing to Ralph, to say the truth. A small smile tugs at the corners of his lips- but, the ever pressing thought of Vanellope and her one, great big dream (and how he ruthlessly destroyed it) was sobering. He needed Felix in a good state of mind; not this strange, angry one, "Felix. Pull yourself together."He tells the distraught man, still trying not to smile. Having never seen Felix raise a fuss, or be so... so _disheveled_ was quite amusing... Yet it would be best left for another time, and another place than here and now. _Come on Felix, you gotta be strong._

Felix hops off the bench, angry at Ralph for suggesting to 'pull himself together'. Ralph didn't understand what he had been through! What he had _done!_ What was Ralph's **_right_**, to tell him to _pull it together?! _"NO, Ralph! You don't know what it's like to be rejected and treated like a criminal!" Felix says crossly, turning and crossing his arms tight around his chest. His glare was fierce at the wall. Ralph didn't know how it felt to be passed over by the one you loved, to be locked away in a dungeon with no hope of escape! _Ralph, you don't understand ANYTHING that's happened to me. How could you tell me to pull myself together?!_

A sad look passes over Ralph's face, "Yes, I do," Ralph says quietly, looking down at the floor, the years of the Nicelanders mistreatment flashing through his mind; the years of mocking, of silence and misplaced fear by all those who saw him coming. The constant security checks _for him_ specifically; he was not to be trusted, was to be monitored as if he would wreak destruction upon the slightest event occurring. As if he was a _ticking time bomb,_ "That's everyday of my life." Ralph says. His confession wasn't to compete with Felix- to show that his life was tougher in any way. It was to sympathize, to show Felix that he can understand his feelings.

He knows what Felix is going through. _Felix, buddy, I know how you feel._

Those quiet, soft spoken words resonate with Felix. Ralph's unspoken sentiment, along with the sincerity, the clarity his voice holds, leads Felix to believe Ralph undoubtedly. But, Felix had not known... _Treated as a criminal...?_ Now, Felix had known of the Nicelanders distrust and suspicion of Ralph- he had always tried to squelch it, to stop the anxious whispers... But _rejection?_ _A villain?_ Was this something Felix had never noticed? That he had never seen?_ "... It is?" _Felix replies, his voice soft as he turns towards Ralph once more. The look of sadness on Ralph's face only intensifies the conviction in Ralph's words. _I never knew... That Ralph felt... Like this..._ He had only seen Ralph leaving, always going off by himself. Felix had thought, perhaps Ralph liked it being alone a bit more... Not that... Not that he felt _unwanted._ _Rejected. Treated as someone worth less than dirt. _Felix cringes- now- at some of the more _meaningful_ words he overheard the Nicelanders say. Now, now he can understand. _Ralph... I didn't..._

Felix can't help but see his own part in the place of Ralph's mistreatment. The ignorant one. The imbecile who thought he was doing things for the good of others, but had no idea of the true intent going on. The one that only made the wounds worse, kept them _festering _because of his idiocy, his ignorance. What type of good guy was he? Letting one of the most important characters _feel this way. For 30 years._

"That's why I ran off," Ralph continues on, catching Felix's attention once more, "And I tried to be a good guy. But I'm not, I'm just a bad guy..." _I destroyed a poor little girls biggest desire. What the medal is to me, this kart is to her. And I destroyed it,_ "And I need your help. There's a little girl whose only hopes is this kart. Please, Felix, fix it. And I promise I will never try to be good again." Ralph says, begging Felix desperately. Ralph doesn't care what happens to him now. All that matters is that Vanellope gets to race- that she has the chance of, once again, being a true racer._  
_

_Please Felix, fix it! _That Vanellope, out of the both of them, will finally get the long-awaited happy ending. Ralph could suffer anything, as long as that little child will be able to smile again.

_Felix, please. Please fix it. Save that little girl. Rebuild her dreams. Please._

Felix smiles softly, moved greatly by Ralph's words. _Never try to be a good guy again, Ralph? Don't you know what that implies? _The feeling of rejection and imprisonment swirl around his mind, and Felix sighs. _Suffering that for 30 years?_ Felix thinks to himself. Slowly, he lifts up his hammer, "I can fix it." He says softly. _I'm sorry._ Those words are in there too, hidden in the folds of his voice, his tone. Ralph looks at him, his eyes growing wide with surprise, but relief and gratitude swiftly replaces them.

_How could I refuse? Truly Ralph, you could never be a bad guy. _

**_Aaaaand, the end! Yes, yes, added Felix saying something at the end, thought it would be rather touching... Oh well._**

**_Is it, is it not? I think so. _**

**_But yeah! Second Ralph and Felix one-shot devulge-into-their-relationship type thing! Besides the story about them, I am starting, I wonder (afterwards) what I should tackle next? :S_**

**_Ah, story is good enough now. Hahahaha. Did you hear the ad in that sentence? I did. XD So desperate._**

**_AHEM. Anyway, thank you all you wonderful folk for reading, and if you would be so kind, review! I love hearing you. (Kinda creepy 0.o) _**


End file.
